DRC denies entry to independent Belgian journalist

Abuja, Nigeria, July 10, 2012--A
Belgian journalist who released a critical documentary on the murder of a human
rights activist was denied entry into the Democratic Republic of the Congo on
Sunday. The Committee to Protect Journalists denounces the country's decision
to block Thierry Michel entry into the country for what seems to be an attempt
to silence critical journalism.

Immigration officials at N'djili International Airport in Kinshasa, the
capital, prevented Michel
from entering the country and also seized his passport, according to a
statement released by the journalist. The authorities then put him on a plane
to Brussels, saying he lacked
the necessary visa
to enter or exit the country, he said.

Michel was visiting the country for
scheduled screenings
of his documentary, L'Affaire Chebeya, un crime d'etat?,
about the unsolved murder of human rights activist Floribert Chebeya. Chebeya, head
of leading human rights group Voix des Sans Voix, was found dead in his car in
June 2010, shortly after he was summoned for a meeting with the national police
chief.

Authorities indefinitely postponed
private screenings of the film, scheduled for Monday and Tuesday for the
diplomatic community in Kinshasa, according to news
reports. It is unclear whether public screenings scheduled for later this
week would take place.

Lambert Mende, a government
spokesman and the DRC's communications minister, told CPJ today that Michel
"had problems with immigration administration" which said he had a fake visa. But
Michel provided CPJ with his travel documents, which included a valid Special
Resident Visa that authorizes
him free entry into the country from February 2008 to February 2013. The
journalist also showed CPJ that he had signed authorization by Mende to report
and film in the country from February 2012 through February 2013. The
journalist's passport also bears evidence of numerous entries to and exits from
Congo within the past five years.

"Authorities may be citing
paperwork, but it's clear they denied entry to Thierry Michel to limit
publicity about his film," CPJ Africa Advocacy Coordinator Mohamed Keita said
from New York. "The denial only serves to draw attention to the hard questions
raised by Michel's film, which highlights the government's failures in
addressing the mysteries surrounding the murder of Floribert Chebeya."

While in the country, Michel had also planned to
witness the July 17 appeal of police officers convicted in the
murder of Chebeya. His deportation has drawn strong
criticism from the international community.

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